This is the Civil War as Americans on the home front read about
it: through the newspapers. No academic analysis long after the dust has
settled, no interpretation from 150 years later–just the raw stories that defined and
described American society in the turbulent years 1861-1865. It is a period not unlike our own . . .

VOLUME I:
April 8, 1861-April 7, 1862
(413 pp)

VOLUME II:
April 8, 1862-April 7, 1863
(415 pp)

VOLUME III:
April 8, 1863-April 7, 1864
(402 pp)

VOLUME IV:
April 8, 1864-April 16, 1865
(422 pp)

From the Author's
Introduction

The
four volumes of Upon the Best
Authority represent a slice of American history, a window into
one of our darkest chapters. What makes this work unique is the fact
that the subjects (the American people) are themselves the authors.
Beyond this introduction and some explanations in the footnotes,
there is no academic analysis or attempt to weave together the many
threads of the story into overarching themes. While the war itself
is obviously the focus, my goal in selecting articles was to present
as wide an image of period society as possible. Many recognized
significant events are included; much else is mundane, and some is
simply downright quirky. Do these stories capture everything that
Americans thought or knew about? Certainly not. But you will find an
incredible variety of ideas and surprises around themes both
familiar and unsuspected. The intent is to provide a glimpse of
American society during the war, North and South, civilian, military
and naval, and to include a span of news (domestic and
international) that illustrates the world as people of the time
experienced it.

It
should be remembered that these are the topics of the day as
presented by the newspapers. Many of these journals had a serious
axe to grind–and I do not mean simply Northern as opposed to
Southern papers. The 1860s version of our modern “red state/blue
state” dichotomy was nastier and much more local; think “red
house/blue house.” The sheer vehemence of attacks against the
administration, rival papers, generals and political candidates
(again, on either side) is shocking. Perhaps the most astounding
revelation is the realization of how deeply divided was the North,
not only when the war began, but well into the fighting. “Received
wisdom” makes much of pro-Union Southerners, but never mentions
the equally large number of pro-Southern Northerners who flew the
Confederate banner as a “peace flag,” symbolizing a desire to
simply allow the South to secede and avoid a war. So keep always in
mind the fact that you are reading the news through the lense of a
period reporter–just as people of the time did. How accurate is
the information? Well, it is as accurate as our own internet!

This
project was begun as part of a larger effort to promote the
sesquicentennial in southeastern Massachusetts. As such, the bulk of
the reports come from New England newspapers; I included one
Southern paper each week just to get the perspective from the
“other” side. However, as you will quickly learn, this
lopsidedness doesn’t really matter. Because Americans on both
sides shared a language, and exchanged newspapers on a regular
basis, many stories appearing in a Northern paper are reprinted from
Southern sheets, and vice versa. Thus there are ample “outrages”
and “barbarities” on both sides, sometimes imagined and
too-often real, and any topic that piqued an editor’s interest
could be circulated far and wide, independent of location or
allegiance. Yes, there are incredibly scathing and slanderous pieces
penned about an event or a character on that “other” side (blue
or gray), but overall I consider this a balanced selection. What you
make of what was written is for you to decide.

The
period of the Civil War, and the decades of political and moral
argument that preceded it, were frustrating to the people who lived
through them–and are, to be honest, a real turn-off for subsequent
generations of school children forced to endure explanations of the
endless wrangling that proved so frustrating as to result in a
shooting war. For millennia, humans have “known” that their own
lifetimes are the worst of times, that things were better in the
past, and it is dispiriting to find that, in reality, there have
been problems forever. Change the names, the dates and allow for the
speed of events, and the issues we face today are eerily similar to
those that challenged our ancestors in the mid-nineteenth century.
Recognize this, and you will see that, rather than a window on the
past, these volumes are a mirror of the present.